(Lookback) The Heartbeat of the Sea: Abyss Chapter 1
Kanata: … … Mikejima—
You are not he, are you? Your scent is different—
*Lick*—Yes, and your taste is different, too.
Souma: HYAAAAAAH—?!
Season: Winter (In the past)
Author: Akira
Characters: Kanzaki Souma, Shinkai Kanata, Mikejima Madara
<Thirteen years before ES was founded. At a funeral hall somewhere in Tokyo.>
Souma: I have been granted freeeedom~!
(Now then, what should I do? Think carefully, Souma! There remains but a half-hour of this precious free time left to me! That’s, uhhh, about thirty minutes, more or less!
I must use this time wisely and do… Something! Anything at all! It would be such a waste, otherwise!)
Souma: … … However, I am feeling rather famished at the moment.
I suspect my mealtime may have slipped my esteemed Father’s mind.
(Uuu. What should I do? It is impossible to do battle on an empty stomach.
My esteemed Mother is usually the one who prepares my meals... However, she is due to give birth to my dear little brother soon.
She is finding it difficult to move about due to her advanced state of pregnancy. That is why there was no helping it. She could not undertake the long journey here, burdened as she was by her increased weight—
—even though this funeral ceremony is for an exceedingly august personage, one whom our household cannot possibly disregard.
That is right. It seems someone has passed away.
That person seems to be someone who is of very great importance to us, a highly esteemed individual.
Oh no! Will I be scolded for using the word “person” when referring to them?
That person… seemed to be like God.)
Souma: (... … But even so, a funeral for God? Can God die as well? Hm~~?
Well, I suppose that when it is time for one to die, they will indeed pass away! Father and Mother would never speak untruths after all!)
Souma: Uuu… Pondering so hard has made me hungrier. I am famished. Even the great Regent (1) could not have anticipated I would be suffering the miserable prospect of starvation in bountiful modern-day Japan…
(Perhaps I could ask Father to prepare a meal for me… … However, he seems to have his hands full, and he is always saying that men do not belong in the kitchen.
Umu. In that case, it seems I have no choice but to seek out a meal myself.
If I search, there ought to be insects or other creatures around which can serve as sustenance somewhere.
Huh? But, wait. On closer inspection, there is an array of food laid out all about me.
Am I hallucinating this?
I do not fully comprehend, but this must be Heaven’s blessing too! In other words, uhhh, God must be granting me a divine favour! Yes!
I shall accept with gratitude!
… … Am I allowed to eat these without permission, though? Will anyone be angered? And yet, with no one around, I cannot seek permission from anyone either?
Besides—Ugh~—I am truly hungry!)
Souma: I humbly partake of this food!
*Chew, chew* Ug~ghh. The flavours are much too strong. The flavours of the meals Mother prepares are so much more refined than this…
(Sound of footsteps)
Souma: (Ah! Someone is approaching! This is bad, it would be disgraceful to be caught indulging in pilfered food! It is shameful conduct for the child of a samurai family!
I—I must hide. Under that desk, there seems to be a screen with which I can conceal myself… …
Make haste, Souma! Run for it! Yaaaa!)
Kanata: WAH—Oh?
Souma: … … … …!?
Kanata: Hm~? Hm~? Hm~?
Souma: … …? … …?
(EH? Ehhhh?! What? Who? An intruder~!
Who in the world is… this fellow? He has such a strange air about him—)
Kanata: Who is that, over there? Is it Mikejima?
Souma: (Huh? Eh? What is he saying?
His voice has a peculiar resonance to it… … I cannot make the words out clearly… …)
Kanata: … … Mikejima—
You are not he, are you? Your scent is different—
*Lick*—Yes, and your taste is different, too.
Souma: HYAAAAAAH—?! *What* are you doing, all of a sudden? Are you a demon—?
Kanata: Errrm. Who are you?
Souma: A-and who are you? What are you doing in a place like this?
Kanata: Ohhh. Kanata is not doing anything at all.
In a sense, what Kanata is doing is ‘nothing’. (2)
Souma: ? ? ?
Kanata: Do you not understand, mortal child?
Is it so difficult to understand the words Kanata is saying?
Souma: Eh? Ka—katana? No, what you said was “Kanata”, was it? And that means—?
Madara: POW! (Sound of a loud punch)——In the nick of time, Mikejima appears!
Souma: Gyaa--UGH—!
Madara: Whoo~oops! I punched his lights out in the heat of the moment, but, who is this guy? God, do you know who he is?
Kanata: Kanata has not become God yet, that is why Kanata does not know anything.
Mu—And besides that, you took such a long time to return, Mikejima.
Madara: I’m sorryyy! I had a little trouble finding a place we could break in and enter by, that’s whyyy~
Souma: (Wh—who are they? These guys? They appear to be… children of my age and yet… …?
Oh no, this is bad. I was already light-headed from hunger earlier, and now the shock of being punched has made me even more dizzy… …
I am… losing… consciousness… …
... ... ... ...)
—————-To be continued——————-
Chapter 2
Translator’s Notes:
1) Souma says 太閤さま (Taikoo-sama) which means Imperial Regent and is commonly used to refer to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a samurai who lived in 1537- 1598 and regarded as the second “Great Unifier” of Japan.
2) Kanata means that he is actively carrying out ‘the act of doing nothing at all’.
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